twitter,@christineromans. logon 24/7 to cnnmoney.com and have a great weekend. new information about yesterday's midair collision above the hudson river between new york city and hoboken, new jersey. the national transportation safety board is scheduled to start a news briefing at any moment now. we'll be monitoring it and bringing you excerpts as it happens. meantime, i'm fredricka whitfield. hello again. an hour long focus now, moving in the right direction? a hopeful economic forecast from president barack obama with the nation's unemployment rate dipping ever so slightly from

9.5% to 9.4%. are you on board with his rosy view? >> this morning, we received additional signs that the worst may be behind us. though we lost 247,000 jobs in july, that was nearly 200,000 fewer jobs lost than in june. >> he says the worst is behind us. is it? the jobs report capped a week of mixed economic messages including revving car sales and the sinking value of your home. >> reporter: the upbeat jobs report is little xofrt to greg thompson who feels fortunate the unemployment benefits he collects at the one stop career center in washington, d.c. were recently extended. >> for me, i'm glad it is. but there's no job. >> almost half of u.s. homeowners, that's 25 million homes, will be under water by 2011. home prices, according to this

report, will fall another 14%. >> reporter: major automakers reporting a boost in sales, thanks to the government's cash for clunkers program. consumers giving thanks too. >> all right, those messages all week long. this hour we compare your thoughts about the nation's economy. how does it match up with the latest indicators of the housing, auto and job markets? and what about the white house's message? we have been hearing from you all weekend long and for the most part, we have been asking for questions and comments, you've been giving us a lot of comments and josh levs has been trying to manage through all of it. give me a little bit of what people are saying. >> i'm camped out here for the hour with you. we'll give you all the questions we possibly can. look at the picture i got up behind me from cnn money. part of the cash for clunkers effort the other day. we're going to be getting your stories, your questions and very quickly, let me show you this. >> that looks like a clunker to me. >> that is the quintessential clunker. maybe even a symbol, a metaphor

for where the economy has been. let's go to the graphic, send your questions right now, cnn.com/fredricka. cannot mess that up. >> or just start with fred. >> and ricka. on face book and my page -- we're right here getting your questions. and the first questions are going to be getting answers to the car market these days. >> we'll delve into that. thank you. the white house says it rescued our economy from catastrophe. those were the president's words and the white house economic adviser jared bernstein relayed the same message in answering some of your questions. take a look. how much did this dip in the unemployment rate become the catalyst for the president saying the worst may be behind us? >> probably less the dip in the unemployment rate because that was driven not by adding jobs,

but by folks leaving the labor force, no longer looking for jobs. remember, you only get counted as unemployed if you're actively seeking work. i think what the president was reflecting on there are a couple of very important data points showing what we would characterize as less bad news. not good news. because you lose 247,000 jobs, that's not what we call good news. but when you compare the rate of job loss, which is about half now of what it was a few months ago, when you compare the rate at which the overall economy is contracting, which is about 1% in the second quarter, compared to 6% in the first quarter, you really see the fingerprints of our program taking hold, hoping to stabilize the economy. but stabilization is not recovery. the number one issue is the economy, you're right. >> now we have been hearing from people in so many different forms, via e-mail from brian.

he said in all the discussions on the results of the stimulus bill, the white house has pointed out cases where jobs have been saved due to the bill. however, can the white house point out evidence of the job growth, not lack of loss, that was promised in the run-up to the bill? >> sure. i mean, i think it gets back to the same point i was making earlier. if you look over the prior, say, three months, let's smooth out some of the bumps in the data, we're talking about job loss of 330,000 per month. far too much job loss. if you compare that to the prior six months, at that point we were losing somewhere between 657, 700,000 jobs per month. independent economic data, not us, folks in the community evaluating this stuff, tell us the recovery act has added 2% to 3 percentage points to gdp and added maybe something like

500,000 jobs that would have been otherwise lost in the second quarter of this year. so, what we can tell you is that the folks out there fixing roads, fixing bridges, the teachers, the cops, the firefighters that now have a job because of our state fiscal relief, helping burdened states, these activities are absolutely helping to save jobs as the writer mentioned. >> this from twitter. and it pertains to the cash for clunkers program. isn't cash for clunkers another form of tax cut? is it a tax credit? why not give tax cuts and allow americans to stimulate all facets of the economy? >> it is a fair question. we cut 95% of working families' taxes with our working made tax cut through the recovery act. remember, about a third of that bill, or $290 billion of tax cuts, but cash for clunkers is

targeted something very specific. which is the very deep and significant contraction in auto demand and production for vehicles in this country. and so what you get there is kind of a two-fer. talking about a program that takes some absoluting vehice sof the road. that's much more targeted than the more broad kind of tax cut you see with making work pay. >> that was my conversation with economic adviser jared bernstein after the president made his optimistic view of the economy from the rose garden on friday. the administration is boasting that it -- its cash for clunkers program is pretty successful. it is encouraging a lot of people to buy. is it fueling you to head to the dealership? josh levs has been hearing from folks in different i waways, questions and comments. >> one thing a lot of people have been writing us is the

american-made cars. george says, when the cash for clunkers program be more beneficial for the american economy if it were only available for american cars? an answer to that coming up. mr. evans? this is janice from onstar. i have received an automatic signal you've been in a front-end crash. do you need help? yeah. i'll contact emergency services and stay with you. you okay? yeah. onstar. standard for one year on 14 chevy models.

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there's no discount for agreeing with me. yeah, i got carried away. happens to me all the time. helping you save money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. welcome back. this hour we're focusing on is the worst over? president obama said friday that, yes, there are good signs in the overall u.s. economy that the cash for clunkers program got another injection of $2

billion because the u.s. senate said so in the week. ford motors saying it has been hugely popular and very good for them. let's find out from josh levs, what are people buying? how are they taking advantage of this cash for clunkers program? >> interesting you talk about ford. i have a list for you. i want everyone to see some of the best-selling cars that came. the folks at cnn money have been doing a good job breaking this down for us, and if you don't have it there, i'll show it to you here, take a look on this page behind me. one of our main stories. i'll zoom down here. this is the list. shows you some of the top five -- way in here, ford escape, and ford focus at the top, fred. also the g patriot, dodge caliber and another ford car. we're seeing ford take the lead in here. what i found more interesting is over here, some of the individual deals people have got that we show you at cnn money thanks to our i-reporters. caroline traded in her isuzu

trooper for a 2008. this one was a 1990 chevy for a 1999 pt cruiser. this reminds me of the cool hunter back in the day. this one i showed you earlier, they couldn't trade it in. it was beyond clunkerdom. >> how do you get the most out of this program? we know that car doesn't qualify, but others might. we caught up with a toyota dealer out of florida, earl stewart and met up with our personal finance editor, gerri willis. >> people are ready to buy. they lined up as early as this morning, not necessarily just to look, but they're qualifying, they have the cash or money in hand to actually get a new vehicle? >> fredricka, one of the most surprising things about this program to me was so many people with the clunkers were the older low priced cars that have good

credit. there are a lot of cash buyers too. we're having most every clunker prospect, people that come in, qualify to buy either pay cash or be able to get the financing. >> initially you were a bit skeptical of the program, weren't you? >> that's exactly the reason why. a person driving a 1,000 or $600 car, you wonder how good their credit is, why are they driving their cars? these are second or third cars, cars given to grandchildren and children, still in their name. now they can take the car back from the grandchild and trade it in for a brand new car for the grandchild. >> should everyone take advantage of this program right now? just because you have $4500 for your clunker, gerri willis says this. >> cash for clunkers can give you a nice boost if you're looking to get a more efficient car. no matter what the incentive is, you have to make sure you can afford the new car in a first place. let me show you an example here. if you buy a car, average price tag, $26,000, let's say you get

the most you can from the government, $4500, that reduces your cost to $21,500. if you finance it throughout four years, you pay 7% interest, your monthly nut is $514, just for the car. and so you got to be able to make sure you can afford it, it is something you can really take advantage of it. cars aren't like houses, they don't increase in value over time. they get into accidents, you don't know for sure if it will be around for another 20 years. it is a product constantly losing value. >> we want to examine this further. is the cash for clunkers program for you? ken and daria dolan are joining us from west palm beach, florida. you know their faces, this dynamic duo. good to see you sir and ma'am. these are financial analysts. you know their books. they authored six of them. they'll point us in the right direction. ken and daria, is this program for everyone? if you got a clunker, should you be going to the dealership? ken? >> it is a perfect time to get a

new car. and get the credit. it is great. america is up to its eyeballs in debt, the average credit card balance is $9,000. here is a great idea. it is like tgi fridays running a promotion for burger king. let's do a promotion, let's get more people who are already offer their heads in debt in more debt by buying a car. >> no, no, no. in fairness, as we just saw -- >> has to be fair. >> someone down the road from us now, earl stewart, the fact of the matter is the people who are going in to get -- take advantage of cash for clunkers were people who, and you can verify this through edmunds.com which knows more about cars than either of us do, they were people who have just put off doing the new car purchase and decided, hey, somebody else is going to pay for a huge chunk of it, now i'll go take advantage of it. >> and so we heard from earl stewart. he said he's excited about that fact. >> he's a toyota dealer,

fredricka! >> he says, you know what, he cast doubt on a lot of folks coming in, thinking they got a $1,000 value car, $600, they don't have any money and -- >> fredricka. >> for a government that is trying to help the downtrodden more than anybody else, it didn't work then. just based on anecdotal material coming from him. >> ken, if we see a lot of consumers driving off with a brand new car, more fuel efficient because that's part of the criteria and you see auto dealers who have been suffering, particularly in the last year, and now they're celebrating, what could be wrong about this program? >> well, one of the things that is wrong is six out of the ten cars sold are not american. yes and josh made a good point, some good cars being sold. they are the minority. and i had a burger watching the red sox and yankees game, at some dive on friday night who is sitting next to me but an auto dealer, he knows a dealership

owed $800,000 by the government and it is like burger king throwing a party for mcdonald's. it is not doing a great deal for the american auto industry. >> oh. >> period. >> okay. >> and there are -- >> my opinion. >> if you look at people taking on new car loans, rather than that old clunker sitting in the yard that may have already been paid off by now, then that is money that is going to have to be committed to a car loan payment, that is then going to turn around and bite the retailers further, bite the restaurant business further, so it is going to have long reaching ramifications. >> hold that thought. ken and daria, we'll hear from you again. we have got a whole lot of questions and comments from folks that josh has and ready to dole them out to you right after this. (music plays) when you think about all you can do in an all-wheel-drive subaru... you'll find there is a lot to love. that's why we created the subaru a lot to love event.

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is the worst over? this off the words of president obama who said the worst is over as it pertains to the economy. we're delving in now on the cash for clunkers program, $4500 credit for you to turn in your clunker and drive away with a more fuel efficient car. so our josh levs is here. we have ken and daria dolan with us to answer questions that you've been sending to us all day long about why i should take advantage of this program and who is really benefiting. josh, what do you have first? >> i'll pick up right where we were. i want ken and daria to see

this. we're getting a lot like this, but some people are responding with the other side and saying, wait a second, why shouldn't you help people buy whatever car they want? why should they only get the deal if they buy american? talk to us about this ultimately, wasn't this just fair to make it available in a broader way? >> thank you, josh. >> i don't even think it is an issue of fairness. if you think about it, we're members of a global economy and what would the rest of the globe think if we said, okay, we're just going to buy our own. we would set off all sorts of ramifications around the world, we can't afford to do that as members of the world trade organization. >> and, josh, i agree with george, the e-mail that it should have been limited in my opinion to american cars. we have nothing against new cars. all we're saying is some people are very much tempted to go into a debt for a new car when they weren't going to buy one in the first place. >> also, remember this too that a lot of those foreign cars,

toyotas and what have you that are going off the lots, are cars that were manufactured right here in the southern part of the united states. so americanmakers made them. >> up next is a ford focus and ford already boasted this week that they saw greater sales in the month of july as a result of this program than they have seen in two years. >> that's right. >> josh, what do you have? >> let me tell you another thing we got, just came into twitter, somebody suggesting maybe there should be an environmentally organized one of these where you trade in for a better environmental car. do you think that would be a good idea financially to help the economy? >> well, josh, that's almost a moral question. would it be great to get a great car -- >> i'm talking about money. would it be good for the economy if we could do that? >> no, what happens to the

television manufacturers and what happens to the restaurants and the retail sector and all the other sectors? they're going to be lined up next. >> cash for burgers. >> you aren't taking advantage of this yourselves, are you? >> no. >> didn't have a clunker. >> we don't have a clunker. >> cody has written on my blog, yes, the recession is slowing, but it is not due to the stimulus. americans have got used to saving money, buying the essential and not buying everything. which really kind of is in sync with what earl stewart said. people saved their money and people have come to the dealerships with cash. >> but the people coming to the dealerships with the cash are the people that probably weren't in debt up to their eyeballs to begin with since they had great credit ratings and were able to make hay. >> we are unconvinced. >> ken and daria, hole on tight. josh as well. we have got more of this -- i'm

so glad we have you all back. so you have driven off with a brand new car. what about your home? are you worried about it? one in two americans might be concerned about whether their home is worth less than they actually owe on it. some of your questions on that topic coming up. also, we have not forgotten the top headlines of the day, we're going to take you to new york, the hudson river, they're removing debris there as well as wreckage from that crash yesterday, an update after this.

much more to tell you about is the worst over? let's focus on some of the top

stories. the national transportation safety board is starting a briefing on yesterday's midair collision over the hudson river. a small plane collided with a new york helicopter, nine people presumed dead and some wreckage has been pulled up. you see the press conference taking place now. we're continuing to monitor it as it happens. and overseas, after claiming at least two lives in taiwan, a powerful typhoon is blamed for one death in eastern china. reports say winds were clocked at 73 miles an hour. after a short break, we'll resume our conversation, is the worst over as it pertains to the american economy? the president says yes. we're going to focus now on mortgage, your home. and whether your home is worth as much as it was just a few months ago. josh levs has been fielding a lot of questions and comments on this as well. >> there is one spot on cnnmoney.com that summarizes what people have been writing us, this question, is the foreclosure rescue plan

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welcome back. is the worst behind us? the white house is boasting the economy is moving in the right direction and that includes, they say, the housing industry. >> we have enabled families to reduce the payments on their mortgages, making their homes more affordable and reducing the number of foreclosures. >> is the white house being prematurely confident about the economy? >> if you listen to the president today, i think what you hear is a very, very balanced view and nothing that i would call confidence or overconfidence. confidence in the sense that our programs are taking hold, and starting to stabilize the economy. in our, to not observe that would actually be, i think, an economic as well as policy mistake. you have to track your policies and make sure they're doing what you want them to do. they are helping to stabilize the housing sector, they're

helping to stabilize credit markets, and now we see that we are losing fewer jobs per month than we were significantly fewer than we were a few months ago. what the president made very clear is that we are nowhere near out of the woods on any of these dimensions until we're creating robust monthly job growth that really give the lift to the living standards of working families. we're not there yet, but we're moving in the right direction. free fall appears solidly behind us. i think that's what the president was trying to say today. >> economic adviser jared bernstein, my conversation with him on friday. are you confident about your home, keeping it and keeping the value of your home? we're delving into that topic now in this segment. josh levs has been hearing from you and so have i on facebook and blogs. >> people are weighing in. we'll have a chance to present the questions to the dolans.

the whole spread of people who have been writing to cnn, telling us their stories and wanting to know overall is the foreclosure rescue plan really working? we heard the government's take. we want to hear that from the dolans. >> the government says, the white house says very confident. ken and daria dolan, you're back with us, right? west palm beach? there you are. ken, you are not confident that they're moving in the right direction. >> what country is he talking about? >> on friday, the president made reference to a light at the end of the tunnel. when we look at housing, i respectfully submit, mr. president, be warware, it could an oncoming train. >> the united states market. >> the white house is saying what they like is existing home sales got quite the injection, particularly because of first

time buyers program that the government instituted, $8,000 credit toward buying a home if you're a first time home buyer. did that not help? >> freddie, we love you. listen to us. >> stop for a minute. it is the same thing with the first time home buyers tax credit as it is with the cash for clunkers. we are building a new society in which the only way we motivate people to do anything is to pay them first. or to incent them through dollars. the fact of the matter was it was the number of foreclosures. and if you look at the fact that we still have further to go on the downside in the value of houses, and the fact that even the kiplinger washington letter is now predicting that by the end of next year, 2010, one in every six mortgages will be in foreclosure, we have a big problem here because -- >> that is -- sorry.

>> as the house value falls, the people who are making those payments who can even afford to make it even after a modification say i'm paying more than it is going to be worth. >> one tidbit, fredricka, 15 million mortgages in america are higher than the value of the home. but everything is okay. >> we got another question. >> one thing people really do when it comes to housing more than other parts of their daily lives is they drill down on the numbers, especially interest rates. talk to us about interest rates, where they stand now, what you to see in the near future what impact do you see out there with refi? >> if you're in a position where you found a house that had the worst of it beaten out of it now

and have a sufficient downpayment there is no time like the present. at the rate we are printing money, and creating stimulus, if that was the way to make a successful country, then argentina should be the number one economy in the world. so we're going to get higher interest rates and they could be substantially higher because it is the only way the rest of the world will buy the paper on this money we're printing. >> we're going to talk more about this topic because there is a lot to delve into as it pertains to the housing industry. we'll take a short break. more questions for you, ken and daria, and namely if we're talking about a quarter of american homes now underwater, meaning you owe more than they're actually worth, deutsche bank says by 2011, it could be one in two, which is not encouraging, one in two homes could be underwater. >> there are plenty of dire numbers to keep you really busy and really depressed. let me tell everyone, we're

hearing a whole bunch of websites mentioned throughout this hour. i want everyone to know this, at the end of the hour, i'll walk over it a computer, take all the relevant websites that have come up on this entire hour and i'll post them on the blog and facebook and twitter an you can empower yourself with information and lots of depressing statistics coming up after the break. >> don't tease it that way. uplifting answers. >> i'll make the switch. coming up, the positives, more of your questions. >> okay, good. (announcer) you can make a bigger difference in the world.

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by earning your degree online... at walden university. where advanced degrees advance the quality of life. we're asking this hour, is the worst behind us? the president said just friday, yes. but as it pertains to the housing industry, deutsche bank said by 2011, one half of american homes will be underwater, meaning they owe more than they're actually worth. josh levs has been fielding a lot of questions from you. we have those questions posed to ken and daria dolan, financial experts and authors at least six books. josh what do you have? >> i'll put a bunch of factoids for you, let's zoom right in, we were talking about interest rates before the break. you track these on cnnmoney.com. go to the main page and you can

click on any story about foreclosures or mortgages and we can give you -- see that, mortgage rates right there. and it is updated very frequently. you can see where these things stand. check this out. where to shop for a mortgage. i like this. we compare three different major websites that people have been using, zillow.com is one. two more right there. now, before we go this is just a little bit fun. most people don't have this kind of money. you can see the home, worth more than a million bucks what they look like, how long people have been trying to sell them. and, if you are in that market, you can find some really good deals right there. we also got some questions for the dolans which we'll get to in a minute. >> very good. we will indeed. so, ken, and daria, let's begin with some of the comments i'm seeing right now on my blog. when i visit south carolina, i notice the place that we -- that had weeds growing everywhere, i drove in and saw three model

homes, empty and seemed to be broken into, then i looked around and there were people living inside the model home. i went up to one of the people and said that the person who built this place filed for bankruptcy. so the discovery here being that there are some homes that are foreclosed, people are living in them, either illegally or inappropriately, so when you hear the administration saying there are incentives under way and the mortgage industry is getting better, everywhere you look, there are foreclosure signs. >> it is going to get worse. we estimate it is going to be -- housing prices on balance across the country in the next for our five years will go down another 5% to 8% and places like california, arizona, and florida may take 15 to 20 years to recover. that means there is some good bargains there. we see further erosion in the home prices. >> who should take advantage of the bargains? >> well, first off, people that have a good safety net of cash

on the side, who can put down 20%. >> at least. >> and now days it is darn near impossible not to get a mortgage with a 20% down payment and who don't overpay, don't buy with their hearts instead of their heads. everybody needs a place to live and the fact of the matter is, as long as you're planning on staying put, even in the rest of the country for 7 to 12 years, which is how long it is going to take even the areas that weren't as hard hit as florida and california and nevada and arizona to recover, then you've got yourself a good property. >> what other questions and comments do we have from viewers on mortgages, the values of their home or losing value of their homes? >> are we looking at this all wrong? let's zoom in for a second. i want you to see what larry wrote. what he's saying is people have

been paying way too much for housing in the first place. that's the basic idea. are we thinking about this fundamentally wrong, when we think recovery? if everything was inflated before, then we really don't want to go back to what it was before, right? are we thinking about it wrong, not anywhere near recovery in that sense? >> that's a great point. the housing market bubble expanded to the highest around 2006 in most parts of america. again in most parts of america, housing prices are down 40%. they should never have gone so high, that doesn't mean there aren't wonderful bargains and more to come. in palm beach county, there are 80,000 condos for sale. >> one more, let's say the right way to -- people take losses for now, but they buy other people's losses, right and steadily work its way up.

here is a comment from tammy. look ahead, give me a time frame. >> months. how about a year. >> a month of any year. >> you didn't say year, josh. i'll hold you to the question. >> i'll give you a month. i'll give you a month and i'll give you a year, but there are caveats with it. we could expect the bottom to be hit, i'd say roughly about june of 2012. with the caveat that we don't end up with a whole round of new taxes with a health care bill, that we don't have all sorts of other employment issues because businesses will not be hiring if we get a full blown new health care plan. >> you're on record with your caveat, even though we'll call you up in 2012. ken, are you on board with that? >> i'm on board if i'm alive.

>> maybe that's in sync with 2011, you know, half the homes will be underwater and we heard from other analysts that by next year, 2010, the fall, that's when you'll see a significant turn around in the unemployment numbers. we're going to talk about unemployment right after this break and after headlines as well. there has been a slight dip in the unemployment rate. 9.4% now. so you got your car, brand new car, you're seeing the value of your home dipping, where are the jobs? ken and daria, right after this. for car insurance, and our friends said we should start here. good friends -- we compare our progressive direct rates, apples to apples, against other top companies, to help you get the best price. how do you do that? with a touch of this button. can i try that? [ chuckles ] wow! good luck getting your remote back. it's all right -- i love this channel. shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

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more on your financial future. is the worst behind us? first a look at the top stories we're following. the ntsb is holding a briefing on yesterday's midair collision over the hudson river. a small plane collided with a new york sight-seeing helicopter, nine people are presumed dead, five bodies have been recovered so far along with some wreckage. >> during the recovery efforts today, they were able to recover most of the helicopter, the helicopter was removed from the water and has been taken to a pier for further examination. that helicopter was in water that was about 30 feet deep, the divers had extremely challenging conditions with current and visibility. at times the visibility was no

more than one foot in front of them. >> we'll continue to update you on that tragedy on the hudson river. after the short break, back to our hour-long focus now, is the worst behind us? let's talk about the unemployment rate, dipping slightly from 9.5% to 9.4%. josh levs feeling your questions, is there relief? >> i'll give you an example right now. cnn.com/jobs is packed with a lot of information here. here is a question we'll get an answer to. will this be a lopside recovery. pam is writing us. we'll get answers coming right up. some lunch. you hungry? yeah. me too. (door crashes in) (broadview alarm) (gasp and scream) go! go! go! go! go! go! (phone rings) hello?

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welcome back. is the worst behind us? the president said the worst is behind us tass pas it pertains economy. still we're talking about 14 million americans looking for work. so we have got our ken and daria dolan who are with us out of west palm beach, florida, they'll be answering some of your questions and inquiries about unemployment. let's talk about whether this news is good news, particularly if you are out of work. is this encouraging? calvin is here with me in atlanta, he's been looking for work since december, you're a civil engineer. now a little ray of hope for you

because you're benefiting from a program, a federal program, you tell me, right, that helped pay for your education to increase your marketability so now you kind of extended your marketability by way of this program. how did it work? >> the way it works is the wia program helps fund your education based off certain eligibility requirements, income and your level of education. so i was able to qualify for $5,000 based off the time i get to go to school for a year or less of education. so with all that, the school helped kick in the rest of the funds. the cost me 6500 bucks, but now i don't have to pay anything. >> it works because you're a civil engineer, but you thought i'm going to broaden my resume by taking this course that really offers you more -- greater skill set in this industry and that's how the program works. however, you're still looking

for work. and when you hear these unemployment numbers and you hear the white house celebrating it, this is very encouraging, is it encouraging to you? 9.5% to 9.4% and you haven't found work. >> that's still a small number. it's good but not good enough. i think we have a long way to go. so i think it is important for people to pick job skills, get some networking, do whatever you got to do to find a job and maybe the numbers will go down. >> while you haven't landed the job yet, you feel like you're able to convey to folks here, there is something that you can do in this time when you're not working and there are programs available to perhaps help you because clearly when you're unemployed, it means funds are tight. not everyone can afford to go back to school, but there are resources available. >> resources are available. go out on the internet, network, that's how i found -- >> you learned of this through the job fair. >> through the job fair, exactly. >> same job fair where we met

you many months ago, we profiled you and ten other people and we're following the progress in the job hunt and so far, it is very tough, only about 4 out of 10 people landed employment. ken and daria, back with us again, the dolans now in west palm beach, florida. this has got to be pretty encouraging to hear how calvin is maximizing his time while looking for work, but at the same time, we would love it if we could bring you good news that he actually found an opportunity. how encouraged are you about the new unemployment rate? >> well, let me say this, because i don't want it to look like i'm totally negative on the entire world here. the good news is that the unemployment numbers for the month of july were the best we have seen all year. so that's the good news. don't tell that to the half million individuals who were pink slipped in the month of july. but the disturbing side of that is the better unemployment number of 9.3% came on the backs

of 700,000 discouraged workers who have just said that's it, i can't find work. >> what you mean by that is some have simply dropped out of the labor force. and/or it means they have seeked part-time employment and -- >> unemployed or underemployed. >> if you have a job, learn more about it, do stuff that nobody wants to do. one thing we did on our website is things not to do in recession. don't take your job for granted. if you can't find work, get retrained in health care, in the environment, get retrained and go where you have to go to work. get off your butt and get going. >> that's particularly important too. we're not sure if the million and a half people who are going to be losing unemployment benefits at the end of the year, whether they may be able to get an extension. many folks are counting on that,

that congress will extend those benefits. what if they don't? >> and therein lies the rub. there are people -- people are going to have to start doing things we haven't seen in, you know, 60 years. maybe bartering some services. if you need something and you don't have any money to pay for it, but you have some sort of ability to or some job skills, barter those skills to get what you need instead of cash. >> real quick, calvin, you have a question for ken and daria about how you maximize this time while looking for work and finishing up the three-week course you're now in the middle of? >> hey, calvin. >> how are you? >> good. my question is how do you go about networking and maximizing your skills for that person to -- who just lost their job, what suggestions do you have? >> here's what i want you to do, calvin. go to the library, look and it

is very expensive to buy, it is the gale's handbook of associations. unbelievable source of information, every association by every specialty. if you're a civil engineer or retraining to something else, start with the associations. many of the large associations have networking rights built into it. go to your state's department of labor, two very, very good sources. every person you ever knew that you're looking for work and don't be ashamed of it. >> are you a twitterer or are you on facebook or any of the social networking sites? >> facebook and link eedlinkedi >> do you have your curriculum on those sites? >> yes. >> have you set out twitter blasts to executives in your expertise? >> yes, that's how i developed all my contacts. >> last thing, calvin, pick three or four companies in your area you would like to work for, and if you're not working anyway, go say i'm going to come

to this company, i'll work for 60 or 90 days, i'll do everything nobody else will do and i'll guarantee you'll hire me. >> josh, real quick, you probably have one more question that we can squeeze in. >> i do. i mentioned before the break, i want to get this to ken and daria, this is a great example, i can't tell you how many people have said they're in their mid-50s and facing retirement and they do not feel there are steps being taken that will get them jobs. pam says, there are no jobs out there from middle aged people. i know the two of you are only 39. give us a sense -- we have less than a minute. when you look at the job picture, do you see optimism for various age groups? >> it used to be we were told that 2010 there would be more jobs for older americans because there weren't as many young people out there to take the job. now everybody's fighting for burger king jobs.

but if you're 50 or older and think you can't get a job, i guarantee you won't get one. >> ken and daria, thanks so much. ran out of time. josh levs, appreciate it. thanks for your help. everyone who has sent your questions and comments, calvin, thanks so much and we wish the best for you on your continued search. if you would like to send us some ideas of topics you think we should focus on, go to my facebook or blog, throw us some suggestions. thanks for being with us. i'm fredricka whitfield.